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World combat sambo champion Fyodor Yemelyanenko: Wrestling must not be excluded from the Olympic programme

The International Olympic Committee will decide at its session in early September whether wrestling will be represented at the 2020 Olympic Games

Photo ITAR-TASS/Yury Mashkov

Photo ITAR-TASS/Yury Mashkov

MOSCOW, September 1 (Itar-Tass) - Wrestling must not be excluded from the Olympic programme, believes famous mixed martial arts fighter and many-times world combat sambo champion Fyodor Yemelyanenko.

Olympic Games from time immemorial had wrestling, and it is not right to remove it from the Olympic programme, the athlete said in an interview to Itar-Tass.

The International Olympic Committee will decide at its session in early September whether wrestling will be represented at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Speaking about the chances of sambo to be included in Olympics, Yemelyanenko said "I think it will not happen in the near future. Wonderful fighting and medals are not enough. There must be work in all the directions, to correctly organize work with international organizations and pay much attention to documentation. The application for sambo to be included in the Olympic family has been returned back. It indicates that there was no sufficient work, he noted.

Terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall

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